Since then Malaysian politics has looked less stable, and more poisonous, than it has for decades. Some in UMNO think the party should stand by Mr Najib, who denies wrongdoing after a report in the Wall Street Journal in July alleged that almost $700m had entered the prime minister’s bank accounts shortly before the election. Others want to ditch him, for fear he will lead them to their first ever electoral defeat at elections in three years' time. UMNO looks ever less inclined to reign in Malay-chauvinists on its fringes, and more tempted to harry its opponents through the courts. In February Mr Anwar was jailed, for the second time, on an iffy sodomy charge. UNMO has lately taken to claiming that its critics are part of a plot to topple the government, backed by foreign media.